Nobody Can #DragMeDown- An Analysis of the One Direction Fandom

Olesya Venger, Thesis Committee Chair Assistant Professor of Journalism and Media Studies University of Nevada, Las Vegas With more than 25 million followers and counting, One Direction

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

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"Nobody Can #DragMeDown": An Analysis of the One Direction Fandom's Ability to Influence and Dominate Worldwide Twitter Trends

Nicole Kelsey Santero

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

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“NOBODY CAN #DRAGMEDOWN”: AN ANALYSIS OF THE ONE DIRECTION

FANDOM’S ABILITY TO INFLUENCE AND DOMINATE

WORLDWIDE TWITTER TRENDS

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment

of the requirements for the

Master of Arts –Journalism and Media Studies

Hank Greenspun School of Journalism and Media Studies

Greenspun College of Urban Affairs

The Graduate College

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

May 2016

Copyright 2016 Nicole Santero All Rights Reserved

is approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Arts – Journalism & Media Studies

Hank Greenspun School of Journalism & Media Studies

Examination Committee Chair Graduate College Interim Dean

iii

ABSTRACT

“Nobody can #DragMeDown”: An analysis of the One Direction fandom’s ability to

influence and dominate worldwide Twitter trends

by Nicole K Santero

Dr Olesya Venger, Thesis Committee Chair Assistant Professor of Journalism and Media Studies

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

With more than 25 million followers and counting, One Direction is currently the biggest boy band in the world, and its fans—known as “Directioners”—have become one of the most visible and recognizable fandoms to utilize social media, especially Twitter Drawing upon an updated version of a fan theory highlighting the interpretive community and social hierarchy that exist within a fandom, this study examines the participatory culture among One Direction fans online that helps them create and dominate worldwide Twitter trends, as well as overshadow what is regarded as more serious news topics Although previous research studies have examined Directioners and other fandoms’ Twitter relationships, none have done so on a global scale

This thesis focuses on the Directioner fandom’s Twitter relationships during three

significant events in July 2015 The first was during the fandom’s week-long tribute to One Direction’s five-year anniversary, in which fans successfully created worldwide Twitter trends in dedication to the band members The second focused on the worldwide Twitter trends associated with One Direction’s 2015 “On the Road Again” world tour, where fans live-tweeted the

concerts Lastly, the third was in regards to the successful trending of #DragMeDown after One Direction surprised fans by releasing its first single (via Twitter) as a foursome, months

following the departure of band member Zayn Malik

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Using social network analysis to collect tweets related to the relevant worldwide Twitter trends, results showed that the Directioners’ Twitter network is made up of many large-sized clusters and a few small ones, proving a strong participatory culture in engaging with and sharing content across the fandom Next, the characteristics of top influential users were analyzed to find out if Directioners kept their Twitter network limited to those in the same geographic location or similar in the type of Twitter account being run The fandom proved to be an open network, without any geographical boundaries in the formation of clusters This unique global connection throughout the network allows for the easy and fast dissemination of news Furthermore, the existence and prominence of top influential users proves that there is a social hierarchy not only across fandoms, but also within one Lastly, Directioners use additional hashtags, attach

hyperlinks, and mention other Twitter users in their tweets containing worldwide trends to

accomplish different motivations and goals, such as gaining direct acknowledgement from the One Direction band members themselves

Implications can be made suggesting that a large and global fandom like Directioners has the ability to: 1) continue shaping the way social media is used to obtain and spread news; 2) provide valuable insight for industry professionals in terms of marketing and promotion

strategies; and 3) potentially make a difference in the world by raising awareness on news topics beyond just One Direction Future research can be conducted to examine similar fandoms (e.g., Justin Bieber’s “Beliebers”) in the context of Twitter or other social media platforms like

Facebook, Instagram, or Tumblr Further research suggests looking into how Directioners

continue to utilize social media while One Direction is on its hiatus

Overall, Directioners have a complex system of news trending on Twitter that is built on

an intense emotional investment to their idols, where top influencers are able to push out

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information to an extensive network of followers These smaller networks play a key supporting role in the difficult task of executing and maintain worldwide Twitter trends on a regular basis Directioners use Twitter to maintain One Direction’s relevance in pop culture, while establishing their own status as prominent and savvy social media users in the digital era

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Lots of time and energy was dedicated to this thesis, and I’m proud of the finished

product, which has become a symbol of my passion for social media and pop culture research However, this thesis would not have been possible without the incredible support I received, and

I would like to express my deepest appreciation and gratitude to the following individuals

Thank you to my committee chair Dr Olesya Venger for being my mentor and guiding

me through this process Thank you to my committee members Dr Julian Kilker, Dr Benjamin Burroughs, and Dr David Dickens for lending their time, expertise, and feedback to my research Additionally, thank you to Dr Lawrence Mullen, Dr Gregory Borchard, and Dr Paul Traudt for contributing to the extensive knowledge I now have and for helping me find confidence in my abilities as a graduate student Thank you to my classmates and friends Margaret George, Margo Malik, and Maxie Ma It was an honor to work alongside such kind, intelligent, and hard-

working women, and my graduate experience would not have been the same without peers who kept me laughing throughout the entire journey

Thank you to my colleagues and mentors at the Clark County School District—Guill Lifoifoi, Melinda Malone, Rebecca Gipson, Michelle Booth, and Cade Cridland—for their support of my academic goals, which made the process of both working and attending school full-time less overwhelming

Thank you to the greatest friends—Sara Farr, Myriam Cardoso, Tiffany Theophil,

Cristina Armington, Lindsey Fullerton, and Mihaela Genova—for embracing me for all that I

am I’m lucky to have people by my side who bring out the absolute best in me I have to

acknowledge my best friend and former roommate Julia Thepwannakul for never allowing me to give up and lifting my spirits in times of stress and doubt—even staying up with me late at night

Most importantly, I must thank three amazing individuals who have listened to me talk about my research so much they are probably now tired of it My parents Emmanuel and Luz Santero molded me into an independent thinker and gave me the ability to realize my full

potential in all aspects of life Rather than discourage my heavy use of social media (and

fascination with boy bands) as a teenager, they encouraged me to turn my intrigue into

something that now translates in both my academic and professional careers Thank you to my twin sister and number one fan Kristen Santero, who makes me a better person each day and reminds me how important it is to have passion for everything we do and strive to accomplish They provided endless love and support that enabled me to achieve more than I ever could imagine, and I owe all of my success to them

Last, but not least, I want to thank Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, and Zayn Malik of One Direction for not only inspiring my master’s research, but for also inspiring me as a music fan the past five years They have given so many people—including myself—so much love, joy, and excitement, and this thesis certainly would not have been

possible without them and their loyalty to fans

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DEDICATION

This thesis is dedicated to Directioners

“You and me got a whole lot of history

We could be the greatest team, that the world has ever seen.”

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vi

DEDICATION viii

LIST OF TABLES xii

LIST OF FIGURES xiii

CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION 1

Significance of the study 2

Background 4

Twitter and the New Media Society 4

One Direction 6

Directioners and Twitter: Rise of the Online Fandom 7

Selected Time Frame 12

Predicted Worldwide Twitter Trends 15

Theoretical Framework 16

History of “Fandom” 16

Fan Studies and Scholars 16

Evolution of Fan Theory: Fandom as a Theoretical Framework 18

Fan Theory and My Research 19

CHAPTER 2 – LITERATURE REVIEW 21

CHAPTER 3 – METHOD 34

NodeXL and the SEC Method 36

Using NodeXL and SEC Method in my Research 37

x

Monitoring One Direction Worldwide Trending Topics 38

Classifying Twitter Trends Into Categories 38

Collecting Data Through NodeXL 40

Selective Exposure Cluster (SEC) Method 41

Step One: Identifying Clusters 41

Step Two: Identifying Hubs 43

Step Three: Hyperlinks and Attached Media 45

Step Four: Hashtags and Mentioned Users 45

Step Five: Visualizing Social Network Maps 47

CHATER 4 – RESULTS 48

Research Question 1 51

Research Question 2 55

Research Question 3 61

CHAPTER 5 – DISCUSSION 71

General Discussion 71

Directioners as a Social Hierarchy 71

Directioners as an Interpretive Community 73

Directioners as a Form of Consumer Activity 75

Limitations 77

Conclusion 78

Recommendations for Future Research 81

APPENDIX (A) 83

Fan-dedicated worldwide Twitter trends 83

xi

Live-tweets (One Direction concerts) 85

Marketing and Promotional Trends 87

REFERENCES 89

CURRICULUM VITAE 98

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 Cluster separation and sizes 52

Table 2 The top hubs for fan-dedicated Twitter trends 56

Table 3 The top hubs for live-tweeted Twitter trends 57

Table 4 The top hubs for marketing and promotional Twitter trends 58

Table 5 Media content of top hyperlinks 63

Table 6 Types of additional hashtags used by Directioners 65

Table 7 Top mentioned Twitter users 68

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1 Fandoms: Beatle mania and Directioners (Goldhill, 2014) 8

Figure 2 Example of tweet for One Direction’s five-year anniversary 48

Figure 3 Example of live-tweet for One Direction concert 50

Figure 4 Example of marketing and promotional tweet by One Direction 51

Figure 5 Tweet by Niall Horan in response to #5YearsofOneDirection 54

Figure 6 Tweet by Louis Tomlinson during five-year anniversary Twitter trends 54

Figure 7 Example of tweet by @gma using #DragMeDown 61

Figure 8 Visualization for data set A1 (#NiallAppreciationDay) 83

Figure 9 Visualization for data set A2 (#LiamAppreciationDay) 83

Figure 10 Visualization for data set A3 (#HarryAppreciationDay) 84

Figure 11 Visualization for data set A4 (#5YearsofOneDirection) 84

Figure 12 Visualization for data set A5 (#5YearsofOneDirection, 1 million) 84

Figure 13 Visualization for data set A5 (#5YearsofOneDirection, 2 million) 84

Figure 14 Visualization for data set A6 (#ThankYou1Dfor) 85

Figure 15 Visualization for data set A7 (#ThankYou1Dfor, 1 million) 85

Figure 16 Visualization for data set B1 (#OTRAEdmonton) 85

Figure 17 Visualization for data set B2 (#OTRAMinneapolis) 86

Figure 18 Visualization for data set B3 (#OTRAMinneapolis, 1 million) 86

Figure 19 Visualization for data set B4 (#OTRAKansasCity) 86

Figure 20 Visualization for data set C1 (#DragMeDown) 87

Figure 21 Visualization for data set C2 (#DragMeDown, 1 million) 87

Figure 22 Visualization for data set C3 (#DragMeDown, 2 million) 87

xiv Figure 23 Visualization for data set C4 (#DragMeDown, 3 million) 88 Figure 24 Visualization for data set C5 (#DragMeDown, 4 million) 88

1

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION Twitter has revolutionized news consumption, giving users the ability to obtain and share information instantly and with users from across the globe These users also have the power to dictate what events are more newsworthy in comparison to others As an avid Twitter user, I have always been interested in how the platform can be used as a strategic tool in disseminating information to a large, worldwide audience A global digital fandom like the One Direction fandom—made up of fans known as “Directioners”—has this unique ability to easily and quickly spread news across Twitter, as well as the ability to even overshadow more “serious” news topics that concern topics relating to social issues, politics, foreign affairs, and more My research looks into the power that the One Direction fandom has to spread and “trend” (make popular)

worldwide news through the social media platform Twitter, drawing upon fan theory as a

theoretical framework to analyze relationships that take place between fans and their idols, as well as among themselves Furthermore, this study examines dilemmas relating to why the One Direction fandom makes “going Twitter viral” so easy

With the typical fandom stereotypically known as simply a group of screaming teenage fan girls, this study examines how a close-knit group of fans from all over the world come

together and dominate worldwide news on Twitter, while ultimately succeeding as key players in major promotional efforts, bringing awareness to social issues, and keeping their idols relevant to pop culture It will contribute to existing research in the fields of social media and fan studies by bringing the two together, to analyze how the network of Twitter users in the One Direction

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fandom use social media to trend news worldwide It seeks to answer the following research questions:

• RQ1: What are the most common scenarios that guide the formation of clusters in the

One Direction fandom’s Twitter network?

• RQ2: What roles do top influencers (hubs) within the One Direction fandom’s largest

clusters play in the creation of worldwide Twitter trends?

• RQ3: How do the top hyperlinks, additional hashtags, and mentioned users in the

tweets used by Directioners contribute to similar themes found across the fandom?

Significance of the Study With the typical fandom stereotypically known as simply a group of screaming teenage fan girls, this study examines how a close-knit group of fans from all over the world come

together to dominate worldwide news on Twitter, while also succeeding as key players in major promotional efforts, brinfing awareness to social issues, and keeping their idols relevant to popular culture It will contribute to existing research in the fields of social media and fan studies

by bring the two together to analyze how the network of Twitter users in the One Direction fandom use social media to trend news worldwide It seeks to answer the following research questions:

• RQ1: What are the most common scenarios that guide the formation of clusters in the

One Direction fandom’s Twitter network?

• RQ2: What roles do top influencers (hubs) within the One Direction fandom’s largest

clusters play in the creation of worldwide Twitter trends?

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• RQ3: How do the top hyperlinks, additional hashtags, and mentioned users in the

tweets used by Directioners contribute to similar themes found across the fandom?

Examining how the Twitter network of One Direction fans spread news through the platform is highly significant in regards to the topic of study Similar research has been

conducted at a regional level, but because of Directioners’ impact worldwide, it was important to examine the fandom on a global scale One Direction’s members have credited their worldwide popularity and success to social media, as it has helped to expose them to fans from all over the world Social media, especially Twitter, has maintained One Direction’s relevance in popular culture for the past five years and could be the key to why the band has surpassed the typical boy band lifespan Additionally, it is important to note that news media outlets and journalists often use trending topics on Twitter as a basis for their news stories because it helps them maintain awareness of community concerns, and keeps them up-to-date on current affairs (Naaman, Becker, & Gravano, 2010) Because One Direction fans are quick to trend breaking news, it is easy for news media to pick up on those topics and use them for their stories Directioners have the inside scoop, and they have become go-to sources for news media

There are also several implications that come with this study The first is that the

interactions that take place among Directioners can provide insight into how social media will continue to shape the way people obtain and spread news Next, with the popularity of social media campaigns as a business and marketing strategy, implications of how industry

professionals can improve their social media efforts by learning from Directioners’ use of Twitter will be discussed Lastly, if a large fandom has the ability to spread news at a significant rate and

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on a global scale, it has the power to raise awareness on important serious issues that could potentially change the world

Background

Twitter and the New Media Society

Launched in 2006, initially with the shallow purpose of allowing users to broadcast the miniscule details of their lives, Twitter has since transformed, becoming a platform for

networked flows of information and allowing for collaborative creation and the spread of news content (Hermida, 2010) With more than 300 million users and 500 million tweets sent out each day, Twitter has become a powerful tool in the dissemination of news (Oreskovic, 2015) Utilized

by large news organizations like CNN and The New York Times, Twitter has been in the

spotlight for its role as a breaking news source for events that include disasters, uprisings, and deaths of prominent figures (Hermida, 2010) It has also been credited for driving more traffic for breaking news stories than any other social media platforms (MacMillan, 2013) Twitter itself acknowledges its popularity as a news-reporting tool and launched an official Twitter for

Newsrooms web guide in 2011, as well as a guideline of the best Twitter practices for journalists that states that “Twitter is a tool all journalists can use to find sources faster, tell stories better and build a bigger audience for their work” (Noguera Vivo, 2013, p 94) The site played a

significant role in the breaking news of high profile events, like the China earthquake in 2008, the Hudson River Plane Crash in 2009, the royal wedding announcement of Prince William and Dutchess Kate Middleton in 2010, Osama Bin Laden’s death in 2011, and the Boston Marathon bombing in 2011 (Elliot, 2013)

5

Twitter trending topics help users discover breaking news in real-time If a term is

trending, it is a leading topic of discussion amongst users on the site and experiences an

increased use among Twitterers (Naaman, Becker, & Gravano, 2010, p 463) They can be

organized and based on their geographic location (e.g., by city, country, or worldwide) Twitter trends can be in the form of a hashtag, or words and phrases Hashtags are created when the “#” symbol is placed before a relevant keyword or phrase in a tweet, to categorize that particular tweet with others who use the same hashtag (Twitter, 2014) By clicking on the trend, a

collection of tweets that include the search term can be found

Twitter is a fairly recent technology that has changed the way people consume media in the 21st century, and this can be attributed to “convergence culture.” In his book, Convergence

Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, fandom studies scholar Henry Jenkins (2006) examined how media convergence has become a new model of understanding this change in media Media convergence offers a chance for people to share important stories and engage with others on the other side of the world Jenkins (2006) also explained that there is now a cultural shift, as consumers are encouraged to seek out new information and create networks among circulated media content Therefore, because the spreading of media content is heavily dependent

on active consumer participation, users of these new technologies are playing the most important role in dictating what direction media—like Twitter—is heading Furthermore, he discusses media convergence’s relation to participatory culture, where media producers and consumers are now one in the same, interacting with each other in a revolutionary way

Furthermore, Twitter is an ideal place for participatory culture to exist In Confronting the

Challenges of Participatory Culture, Jenkins (2009) discussed how most teens that use the Internet are actively involved in creating and sharing the content they produce He defined

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participatory culture as having the following five characteristics: 1) low barriers to artistic

expression and civic engagement; 2) strong support for creating and sharing content; 3) aspects

of informal mentorship between experienced users and novices; 3) members who believe that their contributions matter; and 5) members who feel a degree of social connection with each other and at the very least care about what people think about their creations (Jenkins, 2006, p 5-6) Jenkins (2006) acknowledges affiliation—membership in online communities—as one form

of participatory culture, and that a contemporary participatory culture continues to emerge as our society responds to the emergence of new media technologies that allow people to produce and share content in new and powerful ways

Overall, my study will show how Directioners embody the characteristics of participatory culture, as they create and spread originally produced content and engage with fellow fandom members to create worldwide Twitter trends Additionally, it hopes to serve as proof of the convergence culture that is now more relevant than ever, with the popularity and success of social media like Twitter

One Direction

Having sold more than 50 million records worldwide as of 2015, One Direction is on track to become the first-ever billion-dollar boy band (Lawrence, 2013) Formed in 2010 on the

reality show competition The X Factor, the band has performed to more than 7.5 million fans

worldwide (Modest, 2015) By 2015, One Direction, made up of band members Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, and Louis Tomlinson, set their status as the biggest band

in the world In 2014, One Direction was ranked number 28 on Forbes’ Top 100 of the World’s Most Powerful Celebrities list, as well as number 7 on Forbes’ Social list (Forbes, 2015)

7

Additionally, their 2014 world tour was the highest grossing tour of the year, earning $290 million, nearly $100 million more than the number two spot (McIntyre, 2015) One Direction’s

fourth and latest album Four debuted at number one on the U.S Billboard 200 album chart in

November 2014, just like the band’s first three albums This set a record for One Direction as the only group to have four consecutive number one debuts on the chart (Sinha-Roy, 2014) In March 2015, band member Zayn Malik departed the group, while One Direction continued without him The group headlined their 2015 world tour called the “On The Road Again” tour,

and its fifth album Made in the A.M was released in November 2015

One direction’s true success came as the band began generating a large amount of Twitter traffic (Arvidsson et al, 2015) One Direction has a strong social media presence, and with more than 24 million Twitter followers and counting, the group’s official account was the 25th most followed on the site in 2015 (Twitter Counter, 2015) All band members’ personal accounts also ranked in the top 100 with millions of followers (Twitter Counter, 2015) Many of One

Direction’s Twitter followers consist of the band’s most dedicated fans, Directioners Aside from sharing and receiving the latest One Direction news, Twitter has also given Directioners a new direct line of communication between them and their idols, (Stehlik, 2013)

Directioners and Twitter: Rise of the Online Fandom

Something new that Twitter added to the aspect of fandom is idea of unlimited contact with fellow fans across the globe Fans have turned Twitter into a One Direction library, filled with discussions on the endless facts and statistics about the band Directioners even spend their time talking to each other online and sharing stories about their encounters with the One

Direction members, showing off photos and videos of their experiences Directioners have been

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one of the most dominant fandoms on Twitter for the past five years Their large and global presence has previously been mentioned by the media and discussed in the context of how social media—specifically Twitter—has enhanced their power online

The popularity of One Direction has been compared to the “Beatle mania” that existed back in the 1960s While the essence of this type of craze has not changed much in the last 50 years, the main difference between the two phenomena is the existence of social media, which has made the fandom’s obsession far more visible than fandoms of the past (Goldhill, 2014) This real-life enthusiasm has resonated in the Twittersphere in a big way, as Directioners have become a vocal and prominent group on the site Because they are highly active on Twitter—in addition to other social media platforms—this results in One Direction-related hashtags

becoming a constant feature on Twitter’s trending topics list (Arvidsson et al, 2015) The act of trending is one of the fandom’s ongoing and most popular Twitter practices

Figure 1 Fandoms: Beatle mania and Directioners (Goldhill, 2014)

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In 2013, a British documentary titled “Crazy About One Direction” followed the lives of several Directioners to shine a light on the hysteria surrounding the band and their passionate fans The documentary acknowledged the importance of Twitter and the role it plays in the

fandom As described by Stringer (2013), the “Channel Four documentary Crazy About One

Direction made one thing clear: Twitter has changed the band fan experience from a manageable part-time obsession to a raging all-consuming addiction.” Because Twitter has become a direct link between One Direction and its fans, it allows Directioners to keep track of the band

members and makes them “feel like personal witnesses to the boys’ thoughts” (Stringer, 2013)

In the documentary, fans described being in the fandom as a cult and compare their love for One Direction to a drug addiction, with Twitter constantly feeding and fueling that addiction (“Crazy about One Direction,” 2013) Many fans spend their time on the social media site tweeting to the boy band, asking to be followed back or to be acknowledged at the very least Fans also get creative in an attempt to get the band’s attention, creating artwork or even threating to kill

themselves (“One Direction Twitter: 8 craziest 1D trending topics,” 2012; Stringer, 2013)

While Twitter does see the presence of other digital fandoms, Directioners have been recognized as the most powerful and most active fan group in the world The fandom won

4Music’s 2015 “Last Fan Standing” battle, beating nine other popular global fandoms: 5 Second

of Summer’s “5SOS Fam,” Ariana Grande’s “Arianators,” Nicki Minaj’s “Barbz,” Justin

Bieber’s “Beliebers,” Beyonce’s “Beyhive,” Katy Perry’s “Katy Cats,” Rihanna’s “Navy,” Ed Sheeran’s “Sheerios,” and Taylor Swift’s “Swifties” (Wood, 2015) In order to win the

competition, fans voted during a two-week period by going to Twitter and tweeted their fandom’s assigned hashtag (#Directioners4Music for Directioners) Directioners represented 33.95% of the votes, with more than 2.8 million votes (“Directioners win Last Fan Standing 2015,” 2015;

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Wood, 2015) It is important to acknowledge that the nine other global fandoms that Directioners beat in the 4Music Last Fan Standing battle are also possible groups that can be studied to

examine the Twitter relationship of fandoms

#AlwaysInOurHeartsZaynMalik Directioners have become influential newsmakers, especially when it comes to breaking news, but a particular day in March made One Direction history, as the fandom was once again the center of media headlines and the entire Twittersphere

On Wednesday, March 25, 2015, One Direction announced in a statement via social media that Malik had officially quit the group, one week after he took a temporary break from their 2015 world tour due to stress (Leopold, 2015) The news was posted to the band’s Facebook page and shared on Twitter to more than 22.9 million Twitter followers at the time, immediately causing a

“spike of sadness” among fans from all over the world and spurring a variety of hashtags

including #AlwaysInOurHeartsZaynMalik (Leopold, 2015) Devastated fans shared their tears through Vine videos and pictures, with some describing March 25th as “the day the entire world

shattered” (Yagoda, 2015; Gilbride, 2015)

Within just an hour of the news, online music streams of One Direction songs were up more than 700% in the United States alone and 330% worldwide (Vain, 2015) Influential

celebrities including Jimmy Fallon, Jennifer Lopez, Will Ferrell, and Kevin Hart even took to Twitter and other media sources to weigh in on the news (Yagoda, 2015; Daluisio, 2015; Malec, 2015) In addition, verified brands like Girl Scouts and Denny’s also took advantage of the opportunity to create relevant tributes to the boy band member (Truitt, 2015; Boardman, 2015) It was evident that Malik’s decision to quit One Direction had caused mass hysteria across media platforms While he had simply gone back home to England with the intent of carrying on a

to leave One Direction

On March 24, the day of the Germanwings plane crash, the hashtag #Germanwings was the number one worldwide Twitter trend with nearly 200,000 tweets, but it was bumped to

second-place the following day as #AlwaysInOurHeartsZaynMalik took the top spot (TT

History, 2015) According to Twitter analytics via Topsy.com (2015), the hashtag

#AlwaysInOurHeartsZaynMalik was tweeted more than 4 million times on March 25 Although

#Germanwings was the top trending hashtag on March 24, its impact was nowhere near that of the Zayn Malik related trend Days following both events, several news pieces were written about how Malik leaving One Direction overshadowed the news of the Germanwings plane crash

on Twitter, which was certainly reflective of many people’s news consumption that week

(Varghese, 2015; Zaporowska, 2015)

“Project No Control.” Another unique feat for Directioners is their aggressive marketing efforts via social media In May 2015, the fandom launched “Project No Control,” a movement that inspired One Direction fans to come together and release a third single—“No Control”—off

12

of the band’s fourth album, after it was announced that no more singles would be released for the time being following the departure of Malik from the group (Adejobi, 2015; Buenneke, 2015) Believing they could do a better job than the band’s management and record label in promoting the band’s album, Directioners came together to become One Direction’s own publicity and promotion team Interestingly, this “do-it-yourself” movement is reminiscent of the punk and indie rock scenes, where musicians rely on their fans to get the word out about their music—

something that is rarely associated with Top 40 artists (Buenneke, 2015)

One fan explained the reasoning behind the project and raised importance of the fandom and its role in promoting the band, saying: “Fan involvement has always been important to [One Direction and its team], but I think we’ve been an undervalued resource, and it’s time for them to realize just how important we are to the boys’ continued success, and how much we want their continued success” (Buenneke, 2015) Directioners took One Direction’s promotion into their own hands and planned to get the song trending across various social media platforms In the end, the fan-driven campaign prevailed as “No Control” was released on May 17 and had already been trending on Twitter in the days prior to the release It ultimately reached No 1 on the

“Billboard + Twitter Top Tracks” chart (Anderson, 2015) Band member Tomlinson even

acknowledged this effort in a Billboard interview, explaining that this was “a perfect example of

how unique, incredible and passionate” their fans are (Anderson, 2015) Additionally, the

excitement surrounding the project also resulted in One Direction adding “No Control” to the set list of their “On the Road Again” world tour (Connolly, 2015)

Selected Time Frame: July 19 - 31, 2015

I chose to focus on the One Direction fandom because I myself am a fan of the band, and

I have seen first-hand the role that social media has played in the recent years in the promotion,

It is important to acknowledge that during the week prior to the start of my selected time frame, there was at least one One Direction related worldwide Twitter trend per day, which all became a primary focus of news stories Below is a list with brief descriptions of the worldwide Twitter trends related to One Direction that appeared from July 1 to July 18, 2016 (PST)

July 7, 2015 - #Action1D, No 1 worldwide trend

• #Action1D represented a global campaign launched by One Direction in

collaboration with Action/2015 to raise awareness to worldwide issues like poverty, climate change, and equality This was in preparation for important United Nations summits coming up later in the year As part of the campaign, One Direction encouraged fans to participate in tasks and activities via Twitter and their website, in an effort to raise awareness for the campaign

July 9, 2015 - #OTRASanDiego, No 1 worldwide trend

• Fans live-tweeted One Direction’s “On The Road Again” (OTRA) tour concert in San Diego, California

July 11, 2015 - #OTRASantaClara, No 1 worldwide trend

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• Fans live-tweeted One Direction’s OTRA tour concert in Santa Clara, California

July 12, 2015 - #ZAYNHASNOCHILL, No 1 worldwide trend

• One Direction fans started the trend after former band member Zayn Malik tweeted insults toward British producer “Naughty Boy.”

July 13, 2015 - #HarryBeCareful, No 1 worldwide trend

• Rumors spread that One Direction member Harry Styles was in danger of being assassinated at one of their upcoming concert

July 14, 2015 - #OhNoLouis, Top 10 worldwide trend

• It was rumored that One Direction member Louis Tomlinson was expecting a child

July 15, 2015 - #OTRASeattle, No 1 worldwide trend

• Fans live-tweeted One Direction’s OTRA tour concert in Seattle, Washington

July 16, 2015 - #WeWillAlwaysBelieveInLarry, Top 10 worldwide trend

• Fans started the trend in support of the popular “shipping” of One Direction members Tomlinson and Styles However, this trend was also created in protest and shock over Tomlinson’s baby news

July 17, 2015 - #ArianaRESPECTLouis, No 1 worldwide trend

• Directioners started the trend after it was rumored that singer Ariana Grande insulted One Direction member Tomlinson

July 17, 2015 - #OTRAVancouver, No 1 worldwide trend

• Fans live-tweeted One Direction’s OTRA tour concert in Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada)

July 18, 2016 - #ZaynAppreciationDay, No 1 worldwide trend

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July 19, 2016 - #LouisAppreciationDay, No 1 worldwide trend

• With One Direction’s five-year anniversary approaching, Directioners decided that they would create worldwide Twitter trends in tribute of each band member, including Malik, as part of the “5 Days for 1D” project For five days, prior to the day of the actual anniversary (July 23), the fandom planned to dedicate one day to

a specific member by tweeting about why they love and appreciate him using the format #[Name]AppreciationDay

Predicted Worldwide Twitter Trends: July 19 - 31, 2015

Because of the headlines surrounding One Direction at the time, there was potential for future news, both expected and unexpected, that could result in the creation of worldwide Twitter trends for the remaining days in July, making my selected time frame for collecting data a

significant one First, because the Action/1D campaign was to continue until the end of the month, #Action1D had the potential to trend additional times because of how successful it was

on launch day Next, several On the Road Again tour shows in the second half of the month, so Directioners were likely to continue live-tweeting the remaining concerts, given the successful live-tweet of all previous tour dates Next, because fans were awaiting confirmation on

Tomlinson’s baby news and news regarding the future of Malik’s career without One Direction, both were possible causes for future Twitter trends Lastly, the biggest known event that was planned to occur was the band’s five-year anniversary on July 23, in which fans were continuing their fan-dedication days for the band members

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Theoretical Framework Based on previous work by fandom studies scholars, my study draws upon a version of fan theory as a framework that has been updated to fit the context of social media, to examine how Directioners have the ability spread and trend worldwide news through Twitter This section will discuss the history of fandoms, previous fandom research and notable scholars, the evolution

of fan theory, and how fan theory can help provide answers to my research questions

History of “Fandom”

“Fan,” an abbreviated form of “fanatic,” comes from the Latin word fanaticus, which

means “of or belonging to the temple, a temple servant, a devotee” (Jenkins, 1992, p 12) The use of the word “fan” first appeared in journalistic reports of sporting events in the late 19thcentury to describe the followers of the events (Jenkins, 1992) However, according to Cavicchi (1998), the term “fan” did not come into widespread use until the early 20th century when mass consumerism started transforming the industrial West A fan can be described as “a person with a relatively deep, positive emotional conviction about someone or something famous” who

“[inhabits] social roles marked out as a fandom” (Duffett, 2013, p.18) With the added suffix –

dom, as in kingdom, a “fandom” creates a subculture where, “much as in religious worship, the social experience is brought to life” through camaraderie over a common interest (Serazio, p 305)

Fandom Studies and Scholars

While fandoms now exist in a wide range of areas including music, sports, movies, television, video games, and politics, fandom scholars originally came from the fields of

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sociology, anthropology, and psychology With the recent evolution of digital media and

technologies, however, fandom has entered a new realm for study Academic journals that have

published research on fandoms include: 1) International Journal of Cultural Studies; 2)

Communication Studies ; 3) Media, Culture, and Society; 4) New Media and Society; 5) Popular

Music and Society ; and 6) Mass Communication and Society

Books about fandom studies include Gray, Sandvoss, and Harrington’s (2007) Fandom:

Identities and Communities in a Mediated World, which discusses the background and evolution

of fandom studies and brings together a collection of works and ideas by notable fandom

scholars in the recent decades Matt Hills (2002) wrote Fan Cultures to draw on case studies of a variety of fan communities like “Trekkies” or “Trekkers” (fans of the television show Star Trek) and “X-Philes” (fans of the television show X-Files) Fan Cultures was the first comprehensive

overview of fans and fan theory that discussed the various approaches to fan studies and theories employed to fan cultures between consumerism and “resistance,” community and hierarchy,

“knowledge” and “justification,” and “fantasy” and “reality” (Hills, 2002)

Mark Duffett (2013) wrote Understanding Fandom: An Introduction to the Study of

Media Fan Culture to explore the phenomenon of fandom and how new technologies and

production have made it a fundamental mode for media consumption Duffett also acknowledged the importance of scholars like Henry Jenkins (1992), who was a part of the first wave of fandom

researchers and wrote books like Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture,

which talks about fans of media as active producers who construct their own culture based on consumption practices

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Evolution of Fan Theory: Fandom as a Theoretical Framework

The collection of previous studies by fandom scholars resulted in the evolution of

theoretical approaches to explain how fandoms are formed, how they work, and what they create

The Critical Dictionary of Film and Television Theory provided definitions of various media

theories used by scholars, such fan theory, which outlined the theoretical approaches of fandom

as 1) an interpretive community and 2) as a form of consumer activity (Pearson & Simpson, 2005) As an interpretive community, fandoms are said to occur and continue “through the social and institutional structures” where “an intense personal experience… is located and re-affirmed within social relationships” (Pearson & Simpson, 2005, p 232) This raised awareness of fandom

as not only a community, but also a social hierarchy in which fans are not as equal as people might be led to believe (Tulloch & Jenkins, 1995; Pearson & Simpson, 2000)

When theorizing fandom as a form of consumer activity, this approach has transformed throughout the years as the gap between fan identities and consumer identities drew closer

together, which led Pearson and Simpson (2005) to encourage future studies that address the growing complexity of fandoms, especially in terms of new practices and experiences For instance, there are now indications of Jenkin’s initial concept of fans as “poachers” now evolving into a new concept of fans as activists, which fandom researchers recently began looking into (Chin & Morimoto, 2013)

As a whole, fan theory highlights the emotional investment that fans devote to the object

of their fandom (Grossberg, 1992; Hills, 2002, Barnes, 2014) This important characteristic of a fandom reinforces fans as active participants through the consumption of popular culture (Chin

& Morimoto, 2013, p 98) Fiske (1992) argued that fans have a desire to find meaning and gratification from pop culture, all the while finding a connection and defining their roles within

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the fandom Barnes (2014) provided new implications for the understanding of the online news community and expanded on fan theory, explaining that fans also “compete for knowledge, access to the object of fandom and status” in the social hierarchy of their fandom (p 132) She also theorized that fan’ interactions take place on online news sites not only for fans to establish themselves within the community’s social ladder, but to connect with others outside of their community as well

Just as Barnes (2014) pointed out, there is a need for future research using fan theory to examine what hierarchies are produced within new fan cultures that continue to be created, especially in this digital age Additionally, Chin and Morimoto (2013)—who proposed a

transcultural fan theory—acknowledged the lack of fandom scholarship to develop a fan theory that “consistently complexifies fan identity” and “engages emerging popular cultural content” as

a result of today’s easy dissemination of information via digital methods (p 105)

Fan Theory and My Research

Within the context of popular culture, Chin and Morimoto (2013) expressed the need for

a more effective way of explaining the different types of fan practices that exist globally, from both a geographical and cultural point of view It is important to acknowledge that today’s fans experience an enhanced type of engagement, especially with the immediacy and accessibility that the Internet has provided While there are a few studies that examine online fandoms and their various roles in the digital age, even fewer have examined these groups in relation to social media There are also no studies that examine fandoms in terms of their role in spreading and shaping global news stories through social media, specifically Twitter

According to Chaffee and Berger (1987), a good theory contains the following attributes: explanatory power, predictive power, parsimony, falsifiability, internal consistency, heuristic

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provocativeness, and organizing power With all these characteristics of a good theory, fan theory

is the best framework for my study because it can be used to effectively explore the relationship and influence of a fandom through social media It will be able to provide explanations for how Directioners interact on Twitter and are able to create worldwide trends as a result It can help to predict phenomena, like when worldwide Twitter trends will appear It can be proved false, since not all trends created by the Directioners reach a worldwide trending status Internal consistency can also be examined with fan theory In regards to heuristic provocativeness, fan theory will allow my study to generate new hypotheses, which will expand the range of potential knowledge regarding online fandoms as well as how social media continues to reshape the dissemination of news Lastly, in addition to generating new knowledge, fan theory has the ability to organize existing knowledge found in my study

Because it has mostly been explored in the areas of film and television, fan theory offers new opportunities to further study the online audience and help us better understand how

fandoms engage in new platforms It is the best theory to guide my study in order to find out how

a community of One Direction fans can easily and significantly influence worldwide Twitter trends Hills (2002) once stated that fandoms were not the dominant market for popular culture, but fan theory could help to prove otherwise and show that this may be the beginning of

fandoms’ dominance in popular culture in the digital era

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CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW Past research studies on fandom and Twitter have been conducted at a regional level, but this is the first to examine a fandom and its interactions on Twitter on a global scale

Nonetheless, a range of related research helped serve as a basis for my study

In a study that examined the networks of connected users on Twitter, Himelboim, Smith, and Shneiderman (2013) developed a method called Selective Exposure Cluster (SEC), which will be further discussed in the Chapter 3, to find patterns of how users are connected and

exposed to content— specifically political discussions stemming from the 2012 State of the Union Address from the President of the United States, Barack Obama The researchers sought to find out if: 1) Twitter users form distinct clusters when contributing to a given topic on Twitter; 2) hubs in a cluster have a consistent ideological standpoint; and 3) hashtags, hyperlinks, and top mentioned usernames used in a cluster clearly identify with one side of a controversial issue Several definitions provided by Himelboim, Smith, and Shneiderman (2013) are important to define, as they are referenced throughout my study “Hubs” are users who have an above average number of connections In other words, they are the most influential and typically at the center of the cluster in which they are located because they capture a significant portion of the attention in comparison to other users in the same cluster “Clusters” are groups of users that are more

connected together in the same community in comparison to the rest of the network Each twitter user is represented as a “node,” and may also be interchangeably referred to as a “vertex.”

To find patterns of selective exposure, visual maps were created on a program called NodeXL, to examine the networks created by users, as well as the relationship of content

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exposure via Twitter Himelboim, Smith, and Shneiderman (2013) found that users form medium

to high levels of cluster separation when they contribute to a particular topic via Twitter and that clusters were created with consistent conservative ideological standpoints Lastly, hashtags, hyperlinks, and top mentioned users associated with conservative political views appeared together in the same clusters However, data containing liberal views appeared in mixed clusters, which the researchers believed reflected “a common perception by conservative individuals that mass media… hold liberal views” (Himelboim, Smith, & Shneiderman, 2013, p 190) Overall, they explained how clusters created when Twitter users differentially link to people with shared viewpoints indicates selective exposure and why users can see similar messages from others in their own cluster more easily, in comparison to posts from others in different clusters Their research suggested that for Twitter users, there is limited exposure to content from an outside cluster but that they may be indirectly exposed to content from diverse sources

Arvidsson, Caliandro, Airoldi, and Barina (2015) examined the crowd-based dynamics of value creation in social media-based participatory culture by looking at tweets associated with Italian fans of One Direction and similar boy bands Focusing on participatory culture, the researchers wanted to see how participants contribute through the act of valuing content by investigating how hashtags are used indicate an organizational structure through peer production (production, curation, and integration of content) to put content together and provide a common frame that gives direction to the practice of fan movements The top 10 fandom-related hashtags that became trending topics on Italian Twitter during a three-day period were followed to gather more than 114,000 tweets (Arvidsson, Caliandro, Airoldi, & Barina, 2015, p 8) The researchers then followed the Twitter activities of the top five most popular users in the sample—those with the most retweets and mentions—for three days, before all collective data were visualized using

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an Open Source data visualization software called Gephi (Arvidsson et al., 2015) Findings showed that the fandom Twitter network was non-hierarchical—i.e., an “egalitarian and dense crowd”— with no influential hubs that dominated the traffic flow (Arvidsson et al., 2015, p 13)

The researchers also discussed the importance of hashtags and retweets as powerful promoters resulting in the trending of topics, and emphasized how hashtags help to organize an online environment where this collective affect can find topics of investment and create a

common direction Findings showed that active users behaved similar to robots with the

extremely high number of retweets, and that the levels of connectivity and activity were

distributed evenly overall, leading to the idea of crowds versus community Arvidsson,

Caliandro, Airoldi, and Barina (2015) explained that when it came to creating Twitter trends, a fandom resembles more of a crowd, as opposed to a community, because they fluctuate in size and have a higher turnover rate in participants They explained that this results in the limited space for personal brands or charismatic qualities to develop among users in the One Direction fandom

With the One Direction fandom sharing characteristics similar to connected learning environments, such as peer-to-peer sharing and online participation, Korobkova (2014)

investigated how learning and networking characteristics that take place in the fandom by looking into its fanfiction community on Wattpad.com Wattpad is a “free online writing

community” that is described as the “world’s largest community for discovering and sharing stories”, and the content shared through the site is all user-generated (Korobkova, p 7) Over a nine-month period, the researcher conducted in-depth interviews with 25 Directioners from the United States, Australia, India, and Indonesia, who were in the fandom’s community on Wattpad and analyzed artifacts created by those interviewees, e.g., stories, forum posts, and profiles

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Korobkova (2014) found that through writing fanfiction stories through Wattpad, young fandom users developed important literacy skills—like writing skills, editing skills, expanded

vocabulary—but they rarely believed their skills and practices in the fandom related to the world

of school While the fans acknowledged that the quality of their writing at school improved, they visualized their fandom activities as a “Directioner-only or teen-only kind of realm” (p 36) Korobkova (2014) expressed that the designers of connected learning environments need to find ways to mix education with young people’s cultural worlds without rejecting their autonomy

Furthermore, in terms of content, Korobkova found that digital tools help in the active creation of media, knowledge, and culture content that is spread throughout online platforms She emphasized the popularity of GIF-making in the fandom—creating a lopping animation image file that has no sound (Korobkova, 2014, p 22) Fans learn and teach each other to create gifs by taking clips from One Direction interviews and views, and then showing them off as

“samples” that take on various forms to achieve a desired effect or message Korobkova (2014) also discussed sites like Wattpad.com having properties of being openly networked, allowing fans across geographical boundaries to be connected

Examining music artist Lady Gaga’s relationship with fans, Click, Lee, and Holladay (2013) investigated how fans’ identification with celebrities has changed and increased with the emergence of the new social media environment, giving fans a feeling of closeness with

celebrities The researchers conducted 45 one-on-one interviews with Lady Gaga fans—known

as “Little Monsters”—and asked them how social media impacted their interest and relationship with Lady Gaga, what their feelings were about Lady Gaga’s social activism, and what being a Little Monster meant to them It was found that fans felt they received direct feedback from their idol and believed Lady Gaga’s voice on Twitter seemed to be more authentic than other